Nightmare(s)
by HiddenBlade
Summary: A corrupt government, a "perfect" world. In a society of fear, dreams become nightmares, and nightmares become reality, and reality means death. The harsh aftermath of corruption in the America, where a deadly game is played by the innocent. Life. Live in a world where romance comes between betrayal, and responsibility comes before love. Live in your own Nightmare. AU. HIATUS


Disclaimer! : All rights belong to the author of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Rick Riordan!

Nightmare(s)- A corrupt government, a "perfect" world. In a society of fear, dreams become nightmares, and nightmares become reality, and reality means death. The harsh aftermath of corruption in the America, where a deadly game is played by the innocent. The game of Life. Live in a world where romance comes between betrayal, and responsibility comes before love. Live in your own Nightmare. AU.

_Chapter I: Alone_

_What does it take to destroy a country? What does it take to bring everything around you to ruins? What does it take to make crumble? One man. It took one man to destroy North America. One man to turn America into a **Nightmare**. 25 years ago, America's government fell apart. One man took advantage of this crisis, and took over. This one man, who had never felt power before, and had gained too much. Power corrupts the minds of mankind, and those who have it shall wield it carefully, for misuse of power will lead to what has become modern-America. Because of this one man, the world became of wasteland due to constant wars and disagreements of governments. A man by the name of Kronos. _

**(23 years ago)**

_It was hot that day. Dry and hot, with the sun in it's yellow glory. Kronos was sweating, a dark spot spreading across the white button-down shirt under his suit. He was running, worrying because he was late to the meeting._

_He pushed past the glass doors of his building, and ran to elevator, panting. Everyone in the lobby was staring at him. A slight tremor ran through his arms. He resisted the urge towards violence however, and repeatedly pushed the up button for the elevator. As he waited, he took a quick glance around him. A few people had gone back to what they were doing, but the majority of people were still looking at him, as if he were a pile of dog crap that had not been picked up off the lawn. His hands gave an involuntary jerk, and if the elevator didn't open, he would not be able to control himself._

_The elevator opened, and Kronos was grateful. He didn't want to hurt these people. At least his heart didn't. But since the death of his mother, his mind had began whispering to him, and those whispers fed his body lies. Like he was the one responsible for his mother's death. His mind kept telling him to finish these people, but his mother had always told him to follow his heart. His wonderful mother._

_He stepped into the elevator and and pushed Floor 6. When he got out, he walked to the meeting room, and opened the door. It was horrible._

_They stared at him, and his father,Ouranos, dropped his papers. Ouranos stared at Kronos. "You're late." Ouranos grunted._

_Kronos looked down, unable to look at his father. "I'm sorry, sir. It won't happen again.",_

_Kronos said, eyes still downcast. Ouranos, cold as always, barked "Get to work, boy! Come late again and you won't get a paycheck!"_

_"Yes, sir.", Kronos muttered._

_He was humiliated. Face red, he sat down and took out his laptop. He could feel everyone's eyes on him. He looked up to see them. All of them. All of them had that look in their eye. THAT LOOK. The look of disdain, as if they were sneering. All of them compared Kronos to his father. Everyone was disappointed that he was nothing compared to his father's geniusness. He couldn't bear it._

_The tremors came again. It was even harder to restrain this time. Veins pulsed on Kronos's forehead, and his face turned red again. It was so hard. His life. No one understood!_

_His "disease", his father put it. He wasn't normal. He was an insect that no one liked. Everyone treated him differently. And with those thoughts, rage engulfed Kronos's mind. He stood up, kicking his chair back. Everyone looked at him once again. But this time, Kronos's irises glinted blood-red, and he smiled a cold smile._

_Kronos pulled out the handgun hidden in his briefcase. He pointed it particularly at his father. "I think it's time I showed myself to the world."_

_And in the next few seconds. 8 sounds rang out in succession_

_Kronos stared at the chaos he wrought. Every single person was dead, a beautiful crimson hole in their body. His laughed, but it was no longer his laugh. It was a laugh of a madman, and finally, Kronos had started his path onto insanity. Everything was SO MUCH CLEARER. He felt free for the first time._

_He stared at the black weapon in has hand. He grinned. He had never felt so much control, so much power! But he had to cover this incident up, or else his new life would be over._

_And so his reign began._

* * *

**(12 years after Kronos's incident, 11 years from present)**

_"Light shone through the glass windows, illuminating the house. Percy got up from his bed, expecting to see the normal routine in the city. Instead, smoke was rising from the ground, and rocks burned everywhere. Heat radiated from the walls, and a sense of fear built inside of Percy. His eyes stung and he blinked to get the dust out._

_A trail of fire spread through the wooden floor, incinerating everything in its path. Percy's parents woke up and ran towards him. Mother screamed for him to get out, and Father walked behind, confused as ever._

_The stairs were the only choice, for the entire floor was destroyed. His feet felt paralyzed, but something inside of Percy becomes aware of the danger in front of him. He sprinted up the stairs and look out the window._

_ The entire city was burning, burning into ruins. The fire literally obliterated every building it touch, and the flames flicker for a second. As deadly as it was, the fire was a beautiful shade of orange, making the whole city glow._

_ A hand presses against his back, sending shivers up his spine. Percy tipped over, and fell over the window, screaming._

_A spark caught his arm, and thick smoke choked him. He closed my eyes, preparing for the fall. Percy's body slammed into something, and his eyes shot open._

_ Blood began to spread on the ground. He tried to turn, tried to see his parents. His body, however, refused to move. The fire inched closer to Percy, by the second. He forced his body to get up, and see what happened to his parents._

_Or what was left of them._

_ The flames reached them, and swallowed them whole. A black, burned arm shot out from the fire. " The government, Percy, the-" a voice croaked. Percy choked back a sob. His parents were dead. Dead. DEAD._

_ The people that meant the most to him. Without them, he was nowhere. WHY? He was only seven!_

_Trying to cope with the pain, Percy felt fire behind him. He also heard voices arguing. Percy turned his head to see men behind the flames, men in black suits. But one thing was clear. The golden K on the suit. The symbol representing the government. _

* * *

**(Present)**

Percy ran for his goddamned life. It occurred to him that wherever he went, he somehow attracted the bad people. He didn't even WHY he was being chased. One moment he was walking on the street, and seconds later, a mob of people starting yelling at him.

Looking over his shoulder, Percy could see that the men were still chasing him and didn't even break a sweat. "Damn, they can run" he thought as he picked up the pace.

Many painful minutes later, Percy had lost the men. However, his legs ached and his breath came out short and ragged. The street sign in front of him read Calhoun St. which was a good amount of miles from his house.

Percy could barely get up at the moment, much less go all the way back. Sweat was pouring from his head, making his vision blurry and his shirt soaking wet. The pain was ebbing from his legs slowly, and he could once again breathe normally.

Pushing against the concrete ground, Percy started to get up. With a grunt of pain, he fell back down as his legs were still wobbling. Getting up was going to take a while.

**Approximately an hour later...**

Percy finally got to his house. Well, it wasn't exactly a "house". More of a beaten down shack, ready to collapse with the lightest touch. He threw himself into the worn out couch. His stomach made a gurgling noise (Sorry A/N!, my stomach is so noisy right now. I'm freaking starving), and he began having a horrible headache.

"Aghhh!" Percy whispered-screamed to himself. He looked around for some food, but all he could manage to find was a piece of bread that was close to becoming stale. He didn't care right now though as he was desperate to fill the hunger in his stomach.

As he crammed the bread into his mouth, it struck him odd to have so little food. It had only been 2 weeks since his last raid and he had gotten a good amount. Like the packets of cheese he had gotten. He remembered having a few of the next to the bread, but as he looked again through his food supply, they had seemed to disappear along with a few other items.

"_Huh. That's strange._" Percy thought. What had happened to his food? A harsh, dissonant sound disrupted Percy from his thoughts.

"Who the hell are you?" a voice said.

Percy turned his head to face a young boy no more than fifteen or sixteen. The boy wore an army jacket much too big for his skinny body, and a pair of jeans. His eyes were black like the night along with his hair. He was short but that didn't stop him from looking intimidating.

Percy's eyes narrowed when he saw the boy's hands. In them was Percy's food, that HE had taken. "You took my food." Percy accused.

"What?" the boy asked, clearly confused.

"I said, you took my food." Percy growled, reaching for it.

The boy however, moved quicker than Percy had expected. He dodged Percy's arm easily and tossed the remaining food in his hands into his mouth. "Don't know what the hell you're talking about. The food's been here for days. I've helped myself. You on the other hand, haven't. So, it's NOT yours, I believe." He chewed the food slowly to infuriate Percy, and then opened his mouth to show he had ate it all.

Percy fumed. Who was this idiot to take his food then tell him it wasn't his to begin with?

"I live here, you scrawny boy! Get out of my house! I've worked for this food! Who are you to come in and stuff yourself like a king?!" He ranted, full of anger.

The boy glared at Percy, irritated by him. "It's your fault for not being careful. You shouldn't have left. You know when you live in a place of ruins, food is rather hard to come by. Especially when you're a fourteen-year old guy with no one and no place to live."

Percy began feeling guilty. He himself had a hard time finding food as a kid, and understood what the kid was going through. He could always use a hand. Getting more food wasn't problem seeing the kid could put up a good fight. His face softened, and his anger diminished, he asked "What's your name, boy?"

The kid looked at Percy before responding. "Nico." he muttered.

"Well, Nico, it's your lucky day! How would you staying a while at Percy's Perfect Peachy Pristine Peaceful Perfect-" Percy began.

"Cut it out! It hurts my ears!" exclaimed Nico.

"-House of Awesomeness." Percy finished with a grin.

Percy could tell how much Nico wanted to say yes. HIs eyes lit up and for once he seemed genuinely happy. "You're serious?"

Percy smiled seeing how happy the kid was. "Dead serious. A sidekick always helps. Right sidekick.

Nico's happy expression quickly morphed into a scowl. Percy smiled even wider seeing this. "Glad to have you, sidekick."

* * *

**Be honest. How bad was the chapter? I feel like I'm straying away from the story for some reason. And is it just me or does Percy become too nice all of a sudden. One moment he's pissed and then he offers a place to live. Are the chapters too short? I thought 2000 was decent but I've been noticing all the fics I like are 3-5 thousand words long.**

**And I have officially restarted this beautiful story! Sorry for such the wait! I must be the worst author (Hopefully not), I made you wait so long. I was planning on not telling the ship I will put (as a friend once told me she liked the suspense of who ends up w/ who) but if I can get enough reviews that y'all wanna know, I'll tell you in a future chapter. Reviews make my day :)**

**Peace, HiddenBlade**


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